


like you never have known (the series of blurs remix)

by kristin



Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: AU, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Christy Lee/Eduardo Saverin (past), Gen, Remix, references to Eduardo/Mark, yes this is an A/B/O fic with no sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 23:36:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1568045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristin/pseuds/kristin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You can't prank me." Eduardo widened his eyes dramatically. "I'm traumatized."</p>
            </blockquote>





	like you never have known (the series of blurs remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rest/gifts).
  * Inspired by [each broken heart will eventually mend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/879982) by [Rest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rest/pseuds/Rest). 



> Title from "Someday You Will Be Loved" by Death Cab for Cuties. Thanks to Aei for the brainstorming, Dre for the look-over and AlexSeanchai for the beta.

Eduardo took the stairs two at time, the fabric of his trousers pulling tight against his thighs as he stretched his legs to get to the top. He paused at the top landing, looking down the hall and shaking his head at the sight before him. The door to his room was cracked open. Just as Eduardo suspected. 

A small voice in the back of his head barked out a chastisement in strident Portuguese, _an Omega does not take credit_.

 _OK_ , just as Chris had suspected. They'd been having coffee and 'just catching up', which these days was code for a subtle, understanding conversation designed to facilitate healing and sharing. Chris was good at initiating those, eyes wide and so very knowing as he asked subtly leading questions, attempting to get Eduardo to talk about his feelings.

Eduardo probably would appreciate Chris’ skill if it were someone else under his microscope. But sometimes he just wanted to talk to Chris, his friend, not to feel like an experiment in the best ways to handle a wounded Omega. Of course, those weren’t those the feelings Chris wanted to hear, so he had smiled and deflected and pretended not to be—

Fuck. This time last year, hanging out with Chris had meant grabbing beers and laughing at Dustin's dating tribulations. It wasn't careful and there were certainly no scripts, unless you counted bad pickup lines. Not like today, where the only spontaneity was the ending, when Eduardo mentioned his recent prank on Dustin.

"All of the keys, really?" asked Chris, smiling. Eduardo thought it was genuine, which was good. Maybe he had missed that Eduardo had completely sidestepped his prompts about dating.

"Everything he typed was complete gibberish. And the best part is, Mark says Dustin didn't notice for at least 15 minutes," said Eduardo, laughing a bit picturing Dustin’s expression, which was hilarious even when filtered through Mark’s dry descriptions. Maybe even funnier that way.

Chris winced.

"Hey!" Maybe it had been a lame prank, remapping Dustin's keyboard, but Eduardo was proud. "I was impressed with myself on that one."

"No, that isn't it," Chris said, then chugged the dregs of his coffee as he stood. Eduardo automatically did the same, trailing along after him to the door. "You successfully pranked Dustin. Then you left him alone at home. Where all your things are."

Eduardo cringed himself at that. Dustin wasn't subtle, but he could be vengeful.

Which is why he was not surprised when he swung the door to his room the rest of the way open to reveal Dustin heading into Eduardo's closet. Eduardo had messed with Dustin's workstation. Of course he was going to retaliate against Eduardo's clothes.

In all honestly, Eduardo shouldn't have gone after Dustin at all. Good Omegas took care of their people, they didn't hack their logins and change settings. But he had just—fuck—he had just thought it was funny. He had laughed the whole time he was doing it. The last time he had laughed that hard had been when Christy had—

"Stop,” said Eduardo, as much to his treacherous mind as to Dustin, who was definitely up to no good.

"Shit," said Dustin, turning around, guilty look on his face. "Umm, hi! Eduardo. I was just bringing up your laundry. Helping you out, really."

Eduardo just raised his eyebrow, waiting Dustin out. He had gotten good at that tactic over the years. It was acceptable, even if he technically should have his eyes lowered. But it wasn’t a confrontation.

"Chris come back with you?" parried Dustin unsuccessfully.

He had tried, actually. When Eduardo had followed Chris out of the coffee shop, a few proper steps behind, Chris had headed directly to Eduardo's car, leaning against it in such a casually possessive way that Eduardo had to stop himself from just handing Chris the keys.

"I want—" Eduardo caught himself. He had been doing so well lately with his language, but the thought of the havoc Dustin would cause almost made him slip. Omegas didn't want. They just were. And they obeyed. He had forgot that somewhere along the way, back at Harvard where they said he was person first, but he was trying to be better now, he was.

Chris waited him out. He was too good at this understanding thing. Sometimes Eduardo thought he was as atypical an Alpha as Eduardo was Omega. That that was how they managed to be out-designation friends.

"I would like to handle this myself, please?" asked Eduardo, careful in his phrasing. He could be good. He could. And it had worked, because Chris had nodded and left Eduardo to race home.

So, Eduardo shook his head at Dustin. Chris had let him do this himself, which was good, because Eduardo, he was seeing red.

It wasn’t just fanciful imagery; Eduardo was actually seeing red. A paint can, lid already off, sitting on the plush carpet of his closet. 

But the imagery was true too, because he was mad. No, he was pissed and he wanted to throw Dustin out and the paint after him and growl and. Eduardo knew it was irrational. _Omegas don’t get angry. They accept._ But he had always had this unnatural temper. Probably why his father had sent him off to school and Mark had left him behind and Christy had—

"Wardo?" Dustin's voice caught on the word, his voice tense. 

Eduardo breathed, counting to twenty, first in English, then in Portuguese. He was not angry. He couldn’t be. But he could get even.

"You can't prank me," Eduardo said as he widened his eyes dramatically. "I'm traumatized."

"I can laugh at that right?" asked Dustin hesitantly. “That was a joke.”

"Why would you do that to me?" Eduardo ducked his head down a bit, then, his coup de grace, slid to his knees and looked up at Dustin through his lashes, the picture of a hurt Omega. Dustin's face was going through a different expression every second, finally screwing up into a half grimace that seemed to indicate sympathy.

Eduardo couldn't help it. He laughed.

Dustin's face morphed again, his mouth sliding up into a smile as he started to laugh, too. "Oh, you fucker. That was just evil."

Eduardo stood again, picking a piece of carpet fuzz off his pants. "I learned from the best."

"I have indeed taught you well, young padawan."

"I was talking about Chris."

"Of course you were," said Dustin as he sat down, leaning his back against the wall. Eduardo echoed his movement before reaching out to cover the paint can. "Why am I friends with you, anyway?"

"I have no fucking clue," said Eduardo, smiling.

But rather than responding with a joke as Eduardo expected, Dustin was cocking his head to the side, thoughts clearly stuck in a loop. "No, how _did_ we get to be friends. You were just there one day in all your Wardo-ness."

"And that didn't phase you?"

"I lived with Mark. The fact he brought home an Omega was just about the least weird thing he did."

"I'm not his Omega," said Eduardo. He didn't argue that Mark was his Alpha anymore. Good Omegas didn't lie.

"Right." The skepticism in Dustin’s voice was thicker than snow during New England winters.

Eduardo deflected. "Actually, I was the one who approached Mark."

"Really?" Dustin asked, his voice lowering to a whisper, ready for gossip. He leaned toward Eduardo, making a production of his movement. He always did like shiny things. Eduardo, in one of his more fanciful, okay, drunken, moments, had thought he had been a raven in a previous life.

It was true. Eduardo had been so cocky that day, puffed up on the success of his summer stock market project and oblivious to the world. He had been wandering around the quad alone, the wind whipping fierce and cold, making him duck into a doorway.

Mark had been standing there, hands stuffed into his hoodie pockets. He had looked so small and cold, shivering. That was why Eduardo had started the conversation, really. Alphas don't show weakness.

He didn't even remember what he said first. Something about the weather, innocuous, really, except the fact he said it first.

Because Mark had looked up at him, eyes bright and confident. One look and Eduardo had seen it. That look, the one that meant no one had ever told him not to approach strangers, or to demurely drop his eyes or wait to be spoken to.

The last time Eduardo had addressed his father without being spoken to first his father had refused to acknowledge him for a week. But Mark didn’t ignore him, as was proper, or make some cutting remark. He could have. Eduardo has heard Mark rip people to shred with less provocation.

But he had just tilted his head and said, "I'm from New England. This really isn't that cold."

"I'm from Brazil?" said Eduardo. It came out far too close to a question. "I mean, I'm Eduardo."

Then he did something that he wouldn't have thought possible a year ago when he had first come to Harvard. He stretched out his hand in greeting. It was the way Alphas and Betas greeted each other, tested each other's strength. Omegas obviously weren't strong enough for it to matter. But in that moment, Eduardo had felt like he was Superman. He was smart and happy and the world didn't end when he said hello first to an Alpha, not then.

Mark glanced down at his hand and smiled. He didn't take it (Eduardo told himself then that he didn't _really_ expect him to) but he did smile and say, "Mark."

Eduardo smiled at the memory. "Really."

"I would say I'm surprised, but I'm not. You were so confident." Eduardo winced a bit at Dustin's unspoken assumption, The unspoken _for an Omega_. He stayed silent and looked down at the edge of the paint can, where one drop of red threatened to roll down the side. He probably should do something about that.

"I just meant—I liked you when I met you." Dustin didn't sound happy, but Eduardo could relate. He had liked himself then too. "I liked your suits," said Dustin, poking up at the nearest one.

"Speaking of suits, so what was your plan, anyway?" asked Eduardo, gesturing at the paint can. When Dustin didn’t respond, he looked into his face. It was serious in a way that didn’t look right on Dustin’s face, like a sports car painted brown.

"Eduardo, was that a joke, earlier? Because it would be okay if it wasn’t.” He paused. “She shouldn't have done that."

Eduardo glanced up at the row of clothing to his left and continued on, "I'm assuming an accidental stripe across all of them? Nice touch with the Harvard crimson."

Eduardo had to give Dustin credit, the color certainly stood out here in his closet. He didn't wear red anymore. It was anything intentional, really. It didn't have anything to do with- with that. With the fire. When he thought about it, in those moment after waking up with his voice hoarse from screaming and the remembered smoke, he didn't see red.

The flames Christy had set were yellow and gold. By the time they spread throughout all Eduardo could see was smoke.

"Did you know I sent 47 texts?" she had said, her voice crisp and commanding, barely a question at all. It made him want to curl up, some instinctual reaction to his Alpha. But he didn't.

No, Eduardo got mad. His anger had been building steadily for days. His trip had been a shitshow from the start. Mark hadn’t picked him up at the airport and all the legitimate cabs had refused to pick up an unaccompanied Omega. But that irritation had nothing on Mark and _Sean_ and their vision for Eduardo’s company. 

And worst of all, Eduardo hadn’t been able to do anything, hadn’t been able to show them how important has was to _his_ company. He had wanted to close out the accounts, to make Mark listen, to get his attention. But all the accounts were in Mark’s name. Some fucking CFO he was, not even allowed to have his name on the books.

But this situation, Christy, this he could control. He snapped back, "I did, and I thought that was incredibly normal behavior."

"It is, Eduardo, even if you don’t seem to realize it right now. I am your Alpha. You are mine. I can text you as many times as I want and you have to respond," yelled Christy.

Eduardo ignored her and turned and walked in the bathroom. His hands were shaking and every instinct he had was to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. And fuck, he hated that. He hated her and he hated the discord between his feelings and his fucking hormones and the way he hadn't slept on the plane, cordoned off into the Omega-only section for his own protection.

And Christy hadn’t stopped yelling. "Why are you making me do this to you? Why are you always running away? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Yes, yes I do," said Eduardo, snarling it at his own reflection in the mirror. It helped to focus on his own large Omega eyes. After all, what else were Omegas for?

"You can't yell at me.” The shock in her voice was palpable, even with his back turned.

Eduardo grinned, feral. "Apparently I can. Now get the hell out of my apartment."

He was done. Done with Christy's jealousy and Mark not listening to his suggestions and Sean taking his place. So when he smelled the smoke and saw the burning trash he did laugh.

Omegas aren't angry and they aren't violent and they don't grab burning trash cans and throw them at their retreating Alphas before turning to watch their apartment burn.

Omegas don't but Eduardo did. And now he was left with burns and cough that never seemed to go away and friends who looked as if he was about to break, rather than already broken. 

“Sorry, Dustin, what were you saying?” asked Eduardo, forcing his mind forward.

Dustin grinned. "That, actually, I was going to dip your ties in it. Thought that would make you nice and angry.”

“Omegas don’t get angry,” lied Eduardo.


End file.
